The gut-hormone link: How your microbiome affects perimenopause

Are your changing hormones wreaking havoc on your gut? Or is an imbalance in your gut microbiome wreaking havoc on your hormones?!

In this episode of Chaos to Calm, we dive into the fascinating world of your gut microbiome and estrobolome. Understanding these can be a game-changer for your hormone balance, mood, and overall well-being during perimenopause.

Why you need to listen:

• Decode the gut-hormone connection: Learn why bowel changes around your period are more than just a coincidence and why they can escalate during perimenopause.
• Harness the power of your microbiome: the trillions of microorganisms in your gut influence everything from hormone regulation to mood, energy, and weight gain; Sarah covers why a balanced microbiome is crucial for navigating perimenopause smoothly.
• Balance your estrogen levels naturally: Get the lowdown on the estrobolome and how it helps manage your estrogen levels and perimenopause symptoms.
• Actionable gut health strategies: Walk away with practical, unique tips to support your gut health, ensuring a happier, healthier you during this transitional phase.
• What the FAQ?!: Sarah answers a listeners question about coffee, and whether it needs to be removed from the diet (or not).

Key takeaways:

• Hormonal changes during perimenopause significantly impact gut health, making it crucial to maintain a balanced microbiome and estrobolome.
• Your gut plays a pivotal role in hormone production, mood regulation, and overall health.
• Practical diet and lifestyle changes can help support a healthy gut and smoother perimenopause experience.

Resources mentioned:

• Episode 41: Why You Don’t Tolerate Meat Anymore 
• Episode 40: Chocolate, Sugar Crashes, and Cravings
• Blog on Caffeine and Coffee

Find out more about Sarah, her services and the Freebies mentioned in this episode at https://www.ThePerimenopauseNaturopath.com.au

• OPEN NOW: Discover how to use food as your most powerful medicine, smoothing hormonal fluctuations and easing perimenopause symptoms naturally. (Yes, you have more options than hormone therapy!) Say goodbye to feeling out of control and hello to feeling more like your old self every day, with PerimenoGO (because who wants to pause anyway?!)
• The Perimenopause Decoder is the ultimate guide to understanding if perimenopause hormone fluctuations are behind your changing mood, metabolism and energy after 40, what phase of perimenopause you're in and how much longer you may be on this roller coaster for.
• Been told your blood test results are "normal" or "fine" while you feel far from your best? Discover the power of optimal blood test analysis with The Blood Test Decoder: Optimal Ranges for Women Over 40.
• For more, follow on Instagram at @theperimenopausenaturopath.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to Chaos to Calm podcast episode number 49. I'm Sarah, the peri-menopause naturopath you'll guide through this journey of peri-menopause. And if you're over 40 and feeling like your changing hormones are hijacking your mood, energy, and weight. And you want to change that in a holistic way, then this is the place for you. 

Because each episode I share with you, my views on what the heck's happening in your body, why are you feeling the way that you are and what you can do about it with actionable advice to help you feel more calm in control, less stressed and comfortable in your body. I'm so glad that you've joined me, let's get on with the discussion of today's topic so we can start shifting your experience of peri-menopause from chaos to calm. 

So heads up today I am going to be talking about bodily functions and excretions. If this makes you uncomfortable, I'm not going to encourage you to turn off, embrace it, and let's dive in because you need to listen to what I'm going to be talking about. It's really important. Foundational, even for your perimenopause and menopause experience, well foundational for a pleasant or smooth or comfortable experience. 

I wonder if, At some point in your life since you got your period, if you've tuned into it, you might've noticed that your bowels can change in frequency and form in the lead up to entering your period. Have you ever experienced constipation, bloating, maybe some loose stools before or during your period? My sister and I called them period poos. Maybe that's just us, but I know it's not just us experiencing that because when I talk to women, They tell me that, that, when we're talking about gut health gut function and bowel motions. 

That's what they tell me happens. So last episode, when I was talking about phytoestrogens, I briefly mentioned that almost all of our cells have estrogen receptors. And this includes the cells lining your entire gastrointestinal track. So that big tube that goes from your mouth down to your anus has receptors for estrogen and progesterone. So it means that those hormones have a significant impact on how your gut functions and how it moves so to speak. Good because those hormones can impact how quickly food moves through your system, how much fluid you retain. And that's why you might've noticed that cycle of constipation or bloating and loose stools before or during your period. It's your female hormones. They're part of the I don't want to say problem, but that's, what it is. So, if you have a think about that. What it means for peri-menopause. 

When you progesterone starts to decline, estrogen becomes erratic, in peri-menopause, especially early perimenopause, before it dropped, declines in menopause. No wonder you might be feeling unpredictable changes in your bowel patterns, more gas, constipation, bloating. I wonder if you've noticed that because when I'm talking with women, free clarity calls that we have before we work together. It's often something that they mentioned they've experiencing, but only after I comment or at that changes in digestion and bloating and constant changes in your bowel motions, a really common. Our lesser known for sure. 

Symptom of perimenopause, but a really common. Impact for many women. And that's why. So, estrogen progesterone, are not the only element at play with your gut function because other hormones impact it as well, particularly your thyroid, cortisol, insulin, those master hormones, they can definitely influence the function of your gut too. And it is a two way street because your gut is also involved in hormone production and metabolism. 

So your hormone health is directly impacted by your gut health. And your gut health is impacted by your hormone health. So when I said foundational, I really meant it today. And that's why we're going to talk about it today. We're going to talk about why, what is your gut? How do you keep it healthy? 

And then I want to talk in particular about a part of your gut. And why it's so important for us, particularly in perimenopause. So first up, let's start with, what is the gut. Because we're always throwing it around, talking about gut and gut health. And you'll see it everywhere on the internet and socials and things like that. 

But what exactly are we talking about when we talk about the gut? So like I mentioned before, it's a tube that runs from your mouth to to your anus and it's, there's an upper and a lower part of it. So it's got the esophagus. Your stomach, your small intestines. That's your upper gastrointestinal tract, your large intestine and your rectum, Your pancreas, your liver, your gallbladder, or a part of your gastrointestinal, your gut as well. 

They provide all the juices that you need for good digestion and to get the most out of your food. So, what is the gut do? Well, I'm really simplifying it here. There's a lot going on, but for the interests of brevity and keeping this podcast episode to, our usual 20 minutes or so. The gut has three significant functions for us. 

It helps us break down our food so that we can get the nutrients from it and absorb those nutrients. So, a great diet is not going to help if poor absorption or poor breakdown and absorption is preventing your body from accessing the nutrients that it needs. I have covered this before in episode number 41. On why you don't tolerate meat anymore. 

So if you want to have a listen to how important your juices are and, what can happen to your digestion in perimenopause and menopause, go have a listen to that episode. If you haven't already. Second thing that I got does it makes and regulates hormones and neuro transmitters, neuro transmitters are really important brain compounds that, communicate between our body and our brain nervous system. And they also dictate our mood as well. 

So the things that are gut is making for us or metabolizing for us in that is estrogens, thyroid hormones, dopamine, serotonin, melatonin. They're three really important neurotransmitters when it comes to your mood and your mojo, your motivation there as well. So they impact those hormones, impact your gut function, and your, gut function effects those hormones, your mood, nearly all aspect of your health. I've talked a bit more about neuro-transmitters in episode number 40 when I was talking about, chocolate and sugar crashes and cravings. So go have a listen to that because yeah, dopamine and serotonin dictate your mood, but also really, influenced by your female hormones, estrogen, and progesterone, and they, and also impacting your cravings and how you feel, or what foods you're seeking. And the third task that the gut performs. Is it influences our estrogen levels. 

Of course it metabolizes waste, removes waste as well. And that's part of the, how it influences our estrogen levels there as well. Because our got manufactures three different types of estrogen (estrone, estradiol, and estriol). But, there's a specific group of microbes that we'll talk a bit more about today that help metabolize estrogen and clear it from the body there as well. 

And that's really the primary function there is that eliminating of waste. But in perimenopause and menopause and what we're here for today is thinking about how it influences our estrogen levels there because everyone has fluctuating and reducing estrogen and progesterone during perimenopause like that, that's how it happens, that's how it goes. But not everyone has the full experience of all the perimenopause symptoms. Everyone's sort of has their unique blend and that's where things like gut health and stress management or the amount of stress in your life are the differentiating factors. And they need to be at the forefront I think when supporting women's health in peri-menopause. Or any life-stage really, your gut health and your stress management, whether you're a teen or in peri-menopause. Is going to impact your hormones. There's a quote, hormones get out of balance when life gets out of balance. 

And it's the truth because, stress, our stress response is cortisol, and cortisol is a master hormone. It influences all our other hormones and gut function. So many different things. Hippocrates said thousands of years ago, all disease begins in the gut natural parts we've been shouting at for years and modern research is actually confirming that these days. 

So it is really important. And that's why today we're going to talk about your microbiome and your estrobolome. Which are part of your gut, and really important in influencing your estrogen levels. And as I said, this is a really key foundation to a smooth perimenopause journey, because this is how we influence. And reduce those big fluctuations of estrogen by making sure we have a really robust and healthy gut function. 

So the microbiome, what is it? it is like a complex community of microorganisms, bacteria, fungi, viruses. They live in our bodies. They live on our bodies in our skin. We have a microbiome there too, but the one we're talking about today is the gut. And as I said, these microorganisms play a crucial role in digesting food, producing nutrients. 

Neuro-transmitters regulating your immune system and providing protection against invading pathogens. Our microbiome is in our large intestine. That is where we've wanted. It doesn't belong in our small intestine. And quite often, if we do have an over. Microbes moving into our small intestine, you will have lots of problems, particularly with bloating, reflux, food sensitivities, things like that, but that's a whole other topic that we'll cover some other time. So yeah, I mentioned last time, there's more bacteria in our bodies and cells. Then there are our own cells. So we want to make sure that we are, have a balance of good and bad. 

So pathogenic is the bad ease and or non commensal that we also call them. And the good guys are the commensal flora commensal is the ones that are meant to be there. They help, we. Work together with them. 

 Research is confirming what we've known that an imbalance in your microbiome can lead to a whole host of health issues, like mood disorders, poor memory, concentration, autoimmune diseases, and fatigue, weight gain, yeah, all sorts of stuff. When we have an imbalance in the microbiome it's referred to as a dysbiosis, lots of different factors that can influence the mix of bacteria and yeast in your body. And here's some, this is not like an exhaustive list, but it's some of them so eating a diet high in processed foods or sugar, antibiotics and, or particularly lots of them as a young child. Stress physical and emotional allergies, lack of sleep. It's interesting. 

Lack of sleep can impact your microbiome. Isn't it. But it really has a whole systemic effect. Alcohol really irritating to your gut and microbiome, some medications, environmental toxins, like chemicals and additives in our food preservatives, things like that. How you were born. Whether you were born. Surgically or vaginally. What you ate as an infant, whether you're breastfed, whether you've got colostrum. Your genetics and even where you live can influence. 

So you can see there's a lot that you can't control, but there's also a lot that we can work on and that we can influence there as well. So, as I said, in perimenopause, your microbiome balance is really vital because it influences your hormone regulation, neurotransmitter levels, and your mood, weight management, overall immune function. So one thing I wanted to say is in your large intestine, we have our cell walls and then we have this mucus lining that, commensal flora, the good bacteria love to live in. Now when we have a lot of stress in our life, a lot of cortisol in our body, it actually reduces that mucus lining. 

So that's one way that stress and cortisol can influence a microbiome is by reducing the food and the home that our good bacteria have to live in. And, We want to make sure we have nice conditions to grow beneficial bacteria so that we can crowd out the baddies rather than trying to strip them out with really strong herbs or medications or other things, because that can wipe out your good guys as well. And the last thing I want to say about your microbiome is all, is not lost. 

Like we used to think, oh, if you had antibiotics, that's it, you wipe them out. They were gone for good. What we know now is that we can actually rebuild a microbiome and all is not lost. So yeah, if you had antibiotics or, maybe you weren't breastfed as a baby and you were born by cesarean. All is not lost. 

We can certainly work on and rebuild and get a good balance back in your microbiome. 

Okay. Now it's time to press pause on our discussion about the microbiome and move into the part of the podcast. That's driven by you. Dear listener. It's FAQs time. So let's dive in this question is from Carolyn and she is asking, what is your stance on coffee? Sarah? Do you make your clients give it up? Well, Carolyn, thanks for your question. 

The short answer is no, I don't make them give it up. 

I mean, what, even what kind of naturopath am I?! if I'm not doing that, but no, I'm not. I'm a coffee lover too. I do love coffee and coffee in and of itself isn't bad. It's just often the way that we're drinking it or the way that we're doing it. So I don't make my clients give it up. I do put guidelines or conditions around it. 

And the first of those, that really simple thing that you can do, and it makes a massive difference is have food first and then your coffee. So don't have coffee on an empty stomach and don't have coffee instead of food. Yeah, it's one of the big things with intermittent fasting that I see people use coffee to suppress their appetite or to tide them over so that they can go longer with their fast, but actually coffee does stimulate a digestive response and it does impact your blood sugar levels and insulin. 

So that's why it's really important to have that food first, and then your coffee. And also keep it reasonable. One to two per day is okay. More than that is getting a bit crazy and you might find that as you move into perimenopause, having it after lunch is really impacting your sleep. 

And even if you feel like you don't have trouble going to sleep, it can impact the quality of your sleep and reduce your restorative aspect to your sleep. So thanks for your question, Carolyn. I hope that's helpful for you. I do have a blog on my website. I'll link it in the show notes. 

If you want to know more about my stance on caffeine and coffee. But don't forget if you did like this segment and you have your own question that you want me to answer. I'd love to hear from you. If you check the show notes at www.chaostocalmpodcast.com, there is how to message me your questions? 

 The link is in there. 

Okay, we have covered off the microbiome. Now I want to talk to you about the really important part of our microbiome that works really hard to influence our hormone levels and therefore our perimenopause symptoms, and that is the estrobolom. So, what is that? Well, it is a specific group of bacteria. 

There's about 60 different strains within our microbiome that helped metabolize estrogen. And they're really critical in maintaining that balance of estrogen in the body. A healthy estrobolom helps to regulate your levels of estrogen by modifying it and recycling it which can be important during perimenopause. When your estrogen is becoming low, that can be helpful. 

But if you're in a spike where your estrogen is high. That's not really what we want to happen. We don't need more going back into your bloodstream and adding to your estrogen load. So, what I want to talk about is how estrogen is metabolized in our body, how it's detoxified, because that will help you understand how the estrobolom impacts our hormone balance and what it does because those bacteria that I mentioned, there's about 60 different strengths that we know of could be more, they help maintain the proper hormone balance by through the activity of an enzyme that they produce called beta glucuronidase. And that helps in breaking estrogens away from the, from the compound that they've been bound to and moved by the liver. 

So let me talk to you. I'm going to get ahead of myself. So the first step with estrogen is that it is taken into the liver. So your body's produced it. It's used it. It's bound to the cells and it's finished doing its job. It goes back to the liver and it's broken down into metabolites that makes it easier for the liver to package it up and remove it from the body. 

Now, at this stage, after this phase one metabolism in the liver, it can actually be more potent than the original form of estrogen. So we need the second phase of your liver function to be working well in order to avoid a traffic jam there, or build up of the more potent estrogen, which as I said, if your estrogen is in flux, fluctuating high in peri-menopause and we're adding even more potent estrogen to it, like you're going to get more symptoms, like your heavy bleeding PMS, that irritation, that rage, fluid retention, sore breasts, all those sorts of things. So phase one is done. Then in phase two, we get another round through the liver that it takes that estrogen metabolite and joins it to another compound. This is called glucuronidation and it pairs it up so that the liver can deliver that estrogen bound to the other compound, to the intestines through your bile. So you need healthy bile to transport estrogen safely out of your body and your intestine. 

So you really want to hang on to your gallbladder to make that job easier. And it is, stuff happens to our digestive system and I got in perimenopause and so many women just get their gallbladder whipped out, they're told, oh, you've got some gall stones. We're going to whip it out. If we look after our gallbladders and that thing. I will definitely cover that in its own podcast episode, because it is super important as I've just mentioned here. Storing bile so that we can eliminate estrogen safely out of our body or, well. so phase one, phase two, it's packaged up and it's sent through to your intestines, and it's deposited in the large intestine. 

So this is where, we've got our micro-biome and it's waiting to be eliminated through your bowel motions there as well. So, you want to go to the toilet and use your bowels at least once every day as part of your healthy detoxification and elimination. This is where those, that estrobolome, those types of bacteria living in your large intestine, they can start helping or hindering it depending on where your estrogen levels are at. 

So they're producing beta-glucuronidase and, we want, we definitely want some of it, but too much can stop the estrogen being eliminated as we want, because beta-glucuronidase will cleave or unpack that estrogen that, and it can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream, and back into the body. 

So it means that if you're not using your bowels, at least once every day, the longer that that estrogen is sitting there, the more opportunity there is for that enzyme to cleave or break it up and have it reabsorbed into your body. So you see it is really important that you use your bowels at least once every day. and so if you're not eating enough fiber, you're not drinking enough water and your microbiome is out of balance and it's all contributing to constipation. 

Then your, estrobolome balance is going to be out of whack. I really hope that you see why it's so important to take care of your gut health, particularly your microbiome and that estrobolome in perimenopause, because it can have a significant impact on how you feel then. All right, so what are we going to do about it? 

How do we maintain our gut health to support your microbiome and the estrobolome? You're going to focus on a diet rich in diverse fibers. Prebiotics those fibers that help fuel a microbiome and fermented foods as well, but don't do fermented foods if you have some bloating or a dysbiosis, because it's going to make you feel worse. As I said another time. It's the last thing that I do with my clients, is fermented foods. But they do help nourish your beneficial bacteria, support their growth, and that then crowds out your baddies and helps promote that balanced environment for your microbiome and your hormones as well. Consuming things like phytoestrogens, the flax seeds that I talked about last time, your veggies, your fruit, your whole grains like rice, bread and things like that, will help support a healthy microbiome. And also helps support you using your bowels every day. Lentils beans, those things are full of fiber. and your diet, you have to eat every day, why not harness that rather than relying on supplements or other things? let's make great diet choices, and use our food as really powerful medicine. Okay. 

So. Don't forget herbs and spices. I'm always talking about fruits and veggies, but don't underestimate the power of things like herbs and spices that add flavor to your food, but they're really powerful medicine for your intestines, especially things like turmeric, ginger, garlic, and Rosemary. They're really supportive of your gut, a healthy gut microbiome. And beneficial for reducing inflammation in the gut and also helping with your blood sugar levels there as well. Now a little trick I love telling people about is using a, what we call resistant starch, and it's a fuel for your micro-biome, but it means that you can enjoy eating starchy foods like rice and potatoes, even pasta without them impacting your blood sugar levels or having them be absorbed high carbohydrate foods. So, what you do is you cook the food like potato, potato salad, fried rice, these are great ways to eat these foods. You cook them, you cool them completely. Then they become a resistant starch. So for your body, there's more of the resistance start then carbohydrate coming to us then, so gentle on your blood sugar levels, but really beneficial for your microbiome, even if you reheat those, like you do with fried rice, once they're cooked and cooled, you'll still be out accessing the resistant starch. And it's resistant because we can't break it down, but our microbes adore it. 

They thrive on it and get really strong and grow in their numbers there as well. Legumes like lentils and beans also contain resistant starches as well. So we can't break it down, but it ferments in our gut, feeds, feeds the good bacteria, they create fuel for our intestinal cells and we have a healthy microbiome, healthy gut function. 

It's mutually beneficial. You're giving your gut bacteria, their favorite snack to thrive on. Now, speaking of snacks, this is my other tip for you, for a healthy gut -don't snack. Stick to three meals a day. Your gut needs a break between meals to help it function and support a healthy microbiome. And I did talk about this in episode 41, about your digestive function. 

So I'm not going to, go through it again today, but don't snack. Balance your meals, three meals a day. No snacks. Right. 

That's a wrap for today. We've covered a lot of ground, including the essentials on how to support or help understand the microbiome, the estrobolome and how they influence your perimenopause experience, why it's vital. What it can do for you in terms of your mood, your weight gain, your periods. So the key take homes or action items for you today. Diversify your plate. So veggies and fruits, of course, and those high fiber foods, so in introducing, some vegetarian proteins, there is great but don't forget your hopes and spices, they're really beneficial for your gut and your microbiome. Resistant starches. I love resistant starch because you literally get I like have your carbs and eat them too but in a way that really works well for your body and your blood sugar levels and your microbiome. And, don't snack. Whatever you do. 

Don't snack. So that's my take home tips for you today. If you're looking for more resources or you want to submit your own FAQ, please visit the show notes at www.chaostocalmpodcast.com. And be sure to subscribe while you're there. So you don't miss an episode. Thank you for listening and sharing your time with me today. 

I'm really looking forward to exploring a next topic, which I haven't quite decided to have to tune in and find out what it is, and that will help keep you shifting your peri-menopause experience from chaos to calm. So until next time, have a great week.